Fan blogger Joe Difford reflects on an opening night to remember…
It feels like just yesterday Winston Reid’s late winner against Manchester United helped us to bid farewell to the Boleyn Ground, our home for 112 years. It doesn’t matter how much time passes, anyone who was fortunate enough to see the Hammers in the hallowed ground will never forget it.
But on Thursday evening, new history was written and in some style, as we came back to beat NK Domzale 3-0, progressing into the next round of the Europa League.
Excitement, apprehension, intrigue, every emotion was felt leading up to Thursday’s clash, as we were going to be sitting in our new season ticket seats for the first time, singing bubbles for the first time, and hopefully winning for the first time at London Stadium.
It took just eight minutes for Cheikhou Kouyate to send the 54,000 Hammers into a frenzy with a neat back heel, and we dominated proceedings from there. Domzale gave a good account of themselves, forcing Darren Randolph into a number of saves throughout, but Mark Noble and Co. never really looked like conceding, and finished the job professionally.
Kouyate added a second after a fantastic Andy Carroll knock down, before the skipper Noble played a beautiful through pass which was controlled expertly by new signing Sofiane Feghouli, with the former Valencia winger firing home.
Aside from the powerhouse of Kouyate, the young pair or Sam Byram and Reece Oxford were particularly impressive, never looking out of place alongside experienced Hammers. Byram was on the left hand side, an unnatural role for him, but he was composed and confident throughout. Oxford on the other hand, made a number of inch perfect sliding tackles in and around the penalty area, prompting the full London Stadium to stand and applaud.
Havard Nordtveit impressed too in a midfield role, breaking up play and allowing Kouyate and Noble to push forward and fill in for the absent Dimitri Payet, yet to return following a great Euro campaign with France.
Despite the result, Slaven Bilic has recognised that we need to bring in a few more players if we are to continue to play on Thursday nights as well as compete in the Premier League. Top of this list looks to be Swansea’s Andre Ayew, who has linked up with Payet before in the past for Marseille. Ayew is able to play out wide or as a striker, and with his addition we would have one of the most feared set of attackers in the top flight of English football.
Another forward-thinking man whose name has been circulating around social media is Mario Gomez. The German international may be in his early 30s, but this did not stop him from scoring 26 goals in 33 league appearances for Besiktas last season.
Just one competitive game has been played at our new home, but already it is starting to feel real. With more players likely to be arriving in the near future and fans tasting success courtesy of Kouyate and Feghouli, excitement is building ahead of the Premier League opener in just over a week’s time.
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